"The launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 was expected to set new records for unit sales and generated revenue, and while toppling the records of 2011’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was always going to be a tall order, Activision and Treyarch’s latest title is on track to do just that."

people are going to hate on cod but the fact is no other games compare to it, its 60fps gameplay on a console is unmatched. if another better game came along people would play it, but it doesn't happen. battlefield 3? after the hype has died the clunky gameplay and 25fps will of course drive people back to the better game, COD. (I don't even play COD i play pc games, but i can objectively give u guys the facts on the situation)

Im not suprised, like i always say for every 10 internet fanboys who hate this game they are 100 people in the real world ready to buy it. Hate it or love it you just gotta give it to COD,no matter how much you hate it people still love it.

agreed im not a fan myself, havent bought a cod since world at war but i dont understand the hate either. i may not like it but they are solid games every year and still one of the best shooters on the market. but for most internet fanboys its always one or the other, your not allowed to like halo, cod and battlefield or any combination of them just like your not allowed to like all 3 consoles or any combination of them lol. one or none

The reason people hate COD (myself included) is because it stifles sales of other games. Think about previous consoles. Although one game might have "ruled" when it came to multiplayer (Goldeneye, Halo 2, etc.) people still bought tons of games. They didn't play these games exclusively.

Go to today and there are literally millions of gamers who buy COD every year and either play only that game or a very small handful of others. I have several people in my friends list from the COD4 days who when I log on are always playing COD. Always. As in they play nothing else. I have friends who used to buy tons of games, and now that they play COD, they only buy 2-4 a year.

It's their right to play the game and only that game. I don't begrudge them. But it makes me sad that high quality games often struggle to sell, and a lot of that has to do with people who buy 3 games a year: COD, Madden, and whatever hot game is out that year (Halo, GTA, Gears, Uncharted, God of War, etc.).

Thats mainly because call of duty brought in a ton of people who wouldnt usually buy games at all.

For instance my uncle never plays games at all however when CoD mw2 or w.e came out and the press was all over it, it was on the radio etc, he had to try it out and so he bought a console for taht game.

Also alot of people play that game cause all their friends play it and so even if they dont like games per say they can keep with the trends if they play CoD.. ya get me?

Please explain, how does CoD stifle other games sales. If the people who play CoD and CoD only then how would they affect other games since they never had the intention EVER of buying anything else.

Maybe your friends and the other people who don't buy many games anymore is because games are 60 bux a pop. And their are a lot of high quality games this gen during the CoD craze that did sell a lot.

People have this strange idea that CoD is keeping all other games down and this is not true at all. There is always going to be a game that's on top, same thing with all entertainment media. There will always be a number 1 franchise, it's unfortunate that the hate and bitterness that comes with it cause people to believe ridiculous assumptions.

I doubt this is a fad,this game has been going on for more than 6 years and it still breaks records,they most be doing something right for people to keep coming back. Im a 23years old UNI student and i still love COD,im far from a kid. That stero type about only kids play COD is a hypocrite saying.

'I know...Where I work its a small electronics department in a grocery store (not walmart) and it isn't that well known'

Why would you be suprised abouty the sales of video games in a small unknown grocery story for sales of a game that people are going to get pre-order bonuses, promotional incentives, and trade-in vslue for other games towrds the purchase. Plus the fact that you had the game in your hands at midnight. Clearly your grocery store didn't have a midnight launch.

There were Gamestops averaging 300+ preorders of Halo with well over 50% of the sales done in the first hour on a midnight launch in the area I got mine.

With that said, you could almost double that number when you add in Call of Duty. Plus, there may have been even more locations that ran the game. COD is a retail beast on both consoles.

More fans get the game earlier and earlier each year, despite the thoughts that popularity for the brand.

i dont understand all the hate for cod.i tried codmw2 and it was fun.the only reason i dont buy the cod series is because its priced way more than most ps3 games where i live,and by the time i can get my hand on a decently priced 2nd hand copy the next one arrives.lol most of the people are bashing cod for being a product of lazy ass development but i like to rate a product for what it is,not what it could have been

Depends why you hate it. I love Call of Duty but MW3 deserved the hate it got and so does this. The maps are not bad in this and the create a class system is good but it all comes crumbling down when you start to play and nobody needs to aim.

It's like 80% accuracy with the SMG, say goodbye to good ol CoD and welcome to some noob haven.

@Heartnet Aiming down the sight is a vital part of Call of Duty. It separates the casuals from the regular skilled players with quicker reflexes and accuracy.

It's now become a natural instinct to aim down the sight at medium to long range to shoot people which means I am being punished because everybody is blind firing with stupidly good accuracy. Taking out the need to aim down the sight is making this game unbearable to those who can play and a haven for those who can't.

Aiming in the general direction is all you need to do well now. The last game I liked was MW2, after MW3, I figured I would give it another chance, no point going off the franchise because of one game. But after seeing this mess, I am saying my goodbye, the saying is relevant.

The hate is usually unjustified however there could be a few legitimate reasons why people are upset. The main reason is the power and influence behind the franchise. It can and does drown out other games because of its popularity. All that means to me is those other games need to try harder but the problem is most times they can't afford the same type of marketing. There are many diamonds in the rough that gamers often neglect or don't bother with.

Others reasons could be the reliability of the product. Games lagging, people glitching and cheating, acting like idiots online and so on. Each year they say they are going to crack down on these people so that everyone can enjoy the games online and each year we hear of problems.

What I don't agree with are those who rush out to Metacritic and rate it a low score for no apparent reason other than their dislike for the franchise as a whole (if that's the case then they should just ignore the games each year).

I do agree, the game should be viewed on its own merits, not stacked up against what it could have been.

its not even that its a big business its because its the same game over and ever again with just 1 or 2 new things.. its been running the same engine for 6 years? its not worth buying the only way id buy another cod game is if they actually put some time in to making the game playable..

its the same game for 6 years with the same graphics.. just more noobish stuff.. they ruin the game play and the skill of players and its not skill to just run around spraying and pre-firing.. its just annoying

its different developers than mw.. it runs the same engine as waw, and bo1.. the only thing thats different is that its in the future. things are a little bit mor complex graphics wise.. but it doesnt live up to expectations and the honor its given to be the top fps.it doesnt have graphics like crysis and gunplay like cs

You know it really doesn't deserve the hate. At the core base yeah it's still cod but in reality you really need to play it. It's really really good and the pick ten system is awesome along with the giant zombie mode and the campaign with the strike force missions it's really good.